News in Brief: A National Roundup

Parents' Suit Seeks Vouchers For Needy Denver Students

More than 3,000 parents have joined in a class action against the
Denver public schools that claims the district is failing to teach
basic skills to poor and minority students. The lawsuit calls for the
district to grant poor families tuition vouchers that could be used at
public or private schools.

The suit was originally filed in May in Denver district state court
by a small group of African-American parents. The suit last month was
expanded to include Hispanic and white parents, according to lawyers
involved in the case.

The 68,000-student Denver district is 48 percent Hispanic, 21
percent black, and 25 percent white, with much smaller percentages of
Asian-American and American Indian students.

District spokesman Mark Stevens acknowledged that the wide
achievement gap between minority and white students, but noted that the
district has directed more resources into poor schools.

"We have taken steps and will take more steps to try to provide
support and try to close this gap," Mr. Stevens said.

Ky. Board Violated Law

The Floyd County, Ky., school board broke the state Open Meetings
Act when it debated reorganization in private meetings in 1993, the
Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled.

Three employees who lost their jobs with the school system as a
result of the reorganization had filed suit challenging the legality of
the meetings. The board met privately to discuss the downsizing plan in
March and April of 1993.

The board had argued that the two meetings were covered by two
exemptions in the law for discussions on personnel and litigation. But
in a 6-1 decision late last month, the supreme court said that neither
exemption applied.

The trio of employees lost in a county circuit court but won in the
state court of appeals. The Nov. 20 high court ruling upheld the
appellate court's decision. The school district must reinstate the
plaintiffs' old jobs and pay.

Group Against Bilingual Plan

Opponents of a proposed California ballot initiative that would
severely curtail bilingual education in the state's schools have
launched a campaign to defeat the proposed measure.

Backers of the "Citizens for an Educated America: No on Unz"
campaign include such groups as the state's two major teachers' unions,
its school administrators' organization, the California Association for
Bilingual Education, and politicians like Democratic U.S. Rep. Xavier
Becerra.

The English for the Children initiative generally would require that
the state's nearly 1.4 million students with limited English skills be
taught in English in special "sheltered English" classes for no more
than a year before moving into the mainstream.

Sponsors say students do not learn English well or fast enough in
bilingual education. Opponents say the initiative is an inappropriate
one-size-fits-all approach.

Supporters last month said they had filed more than 700,000
signatures to meet the Dec. 1 deadline to qualify the initiative for
the June primary ballot. They need 433,269 valid signatures, as
verified by the California secretary of state's office.

Union Settles Teachers' Suit

The Pennsylvania State Education Association recently settled a
federal lawsuit brought by seven teachers who challenged the way their
"fair share" dues were spent.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, based in
Springfield, Va., sued on behalf of the teachers, who are not members
of the union. Although they don't pay full dues, the teachers are
required to pay for costs associated with collective bargaining.

Last June, the foundation lost its bid to have the lawsuit certified
as a class action covering other fair-share payers in Pennsylvania.
Under the Oct. 23 settlement, six of the teachers will receive refunds
of $363.20 each. Another teacher, the lead plaintiff in the case, will
get $74.56.

Aureliano Sanchez-Arango, a spokes-man for the foundation, said the
decision means that any future fair-share payers will be charged less
money. But Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the PSEA, disputed that
assertion.

In another case brought by the Los Angeles-based Individual Rights
Foundation, a California arbitrator last month rejected a challenge by
1,250 teachers to the way their fair-share dues were calculated.

Former Chief Admits Theft

The former superintendent of the Muskegon Heights school district in
Michigan pleaded no contest Nov. 18 to two felony counts of
embezzlement.

Eddie West Jr., 54, resigned as superintendent in September after
being charged with 16 counts of embezzlement. In the plea agreement,
prosecutors dropped 14 of the counts. Sentencing is set for Jan. 9.

Mr. West allegedly took money from the 2,900-student district by
using a school system Visa card for personal expenses, said Les Bowen,
the chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County prosecutor's office.
While the prosecutor's office will recommend that Mr. West be held
responsible for $10,000 of embezzled funds in the sentencing process,
Mr. West has pleaded no contest to taking $1,150.

Mr. West's lawyer, John R. Beason, said that the school system
didn't have "restraints or policies" for how its credit card should be
used. "The only problem with Mr. West was that he did not pay the
expenditures back in a timely fashion."

Harassment Claims Probed

City and federal civil rights officers are investigating charges of
sexual harassment and age bias leveled against a Houston middle school
principal by 13 of his former employees.

The employees, eight of whom are teachers, allege that Principal Ben
Carmona of Patrick Henry Middle School made sexual comments and then
transferred them to other schools after they complained, said Gayle
Fallon, the president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, which is
representing the employees. They also allege that they were singled out
because of their ages.

Mr. Carmona, who is on administrative leave, "has proclaimed his
innocence and denies the charges," said Terry Abbott, the press
secretary for the 212,000-student Houston school district.

The Houston schools and the Houston office of the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission are investigating. After concluding
one investigation, EEOC officials wrote that Mr. Carmona had created "a
hostile work environment" through his jokes, innuendoes, and gestures.
The EEOC added that the district's policy for dealing with
sexual-harassment complaints was ineffective.

Former Teacher Charged

A former elementary school teacher, distraught that her contract
with a North Carolina district had been terminated, has been charged
with shooting at a district administrator, sheriff's department
officials said.

Deborah Faye Brogden of Greensboro was charged last month with
assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after shooting at
Daniel M. Thomas Jr., the assistant superintendent in charge of
personnel for the Rowan-Salisbury public schools, after an argument
outside his home. Mr. Thomas ran after Ms. Brogden pointed a gun at
him. He was not hurt.

Ms. Brogden, who taught math to gifted and talented students in the
19,730-student district during the 1996-97 school year, had met with
Mr. Thomas on several occasions since last June, when the decision not
to extend her contract was made. She had taught in the state since
1985.

Teacher Fired Over Search

The New Haven, Conn., school board has dismissed a physical
education teacher who participated in the strip search of 22 5th
graders to look for $40 missing from a classmate.

The board voted unanimously on Nov. 13 to dismiss Marie Young, a
teacher at Jackie Robinson Middle School. The district has already
fired a security aide who participated in the search. It has also begun
termination proceedings against the assistant principal of the school,
said Jay Bovilsky, the district's lawyer.

The school board rejected the recommendation of a hearing panel,
which had ruled 2-1 in Ms. Young's favor. The panel majority said the
district had a poorly communicated policy on student searches.

But Superintendent Reginald Mayo recommended that the board dismiss
Ms. Young for showing poor judgment.

Ex-Offender Faces Charge

A teacher in a Roman Catholic high school could face up to 15 years
in prison if found guilty of breaking a New Hampshire law that bars
convicted sexual offenders from working with children.

The Hillsborough County attorney's office says that Brother Shawn
McEnany broke the state prohibition by taking a job at the 800-student
Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, N.H., in 1990, two years after he
pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual-contact charge involving a
15-year-old female parochial school student in Maine.

Following a local journalist's inquiry, Nashua police investigated
the matter and arrested Brother McEnany. Later this month a grand jury
will decide if the case should go to trial.

A lawyer representing the teacher said Brother McEnany did not
believe that the New Hampshire law, which went into effect after his
Maine conviction, applied to a misdemeanor.

Conviction in School Deaths

A 19-year-old was found guilty Nov. 20 in the fatal shootings of a
teacher and a student two years ago when he was a senior at a
Lynnville, Tenn., high school.

Jamie Rouse was sentenced to life in prison without parole for
walking into Richland High School with a rifle and killing 14-year-old
student Diane Collins and teacher Carolyn Foster.

He was also convicted of the attempted murder of another teacher and
the football coach, and will be sentenced on those charges later this
month.

15 Arrested in Lunch Brawl

What began as a fistfight between two students at a Philadelphia
high school turned into a brawl involving hundreds of students and took
more than 100 police officers to control.

When the melee died down, 15 students at Strawberry Mansion High
School were arrested on charges including assaulting a police officer
and disorderly conduct.

The fight broke out in the cafeteria while nearly 500 of the
school's 2,300 students were eating lunch.

All of the students arrested in the Nov. 19 incident have been
suspended, and officials are making arrangements to send them to
alternative schools, officials said.

Major Differences

Eighth graders--especially those who are poor--whose teachers do not
have a degree in mathematics tend to score lower on the National
Assessment of Educational Progress in math.

School lunch
eligibility

Average 1996 NAEP math scores

Percentage of
students taught by teachers with math majors

Math major

No math major

Not eligible

283.3*

277.8*

48.1%

Eligible

259.9*

248.0*

37.7%

*On a 500-point scale.
SOURCE: National Assessment of Educational Progress

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